Baby Keem facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Baby Keem
Birth name	Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr.
Also known as	2 Phone Baby Keem Booman Black Brad Paisley
Born	(2000-10-22) October 22, 2000 (age 24) Carson, California, U.S.
Origin	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Genres	West Coast hip hop alternative hip hop trap
Occupation(s)	Rapper singer songwriter record producer
Years active	2014–present
Labels	The Orchard PGLang Columbia
Relatives	Kendrick Lamar (cousin) Nick Young (cousin)
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Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr. (born October 22, 2000), known as Baby Keem, is an American rapper and music producer. He grew up in Las Vegas. He became well-known in the late 2010s. This was partly because he helped with music for the Black Panther: The Album. His cousin, Kendrick Lamar, was also involved in that project.

Baby Keem also worked on albums for other artists like Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q. He even contributed to Beyoncé's The Lion King: The Gift. As a main artist, he first got famous for his song "Orange Soda" in 2019. This song became a big hit and sold over a million copies, earning a "platinum" award from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

He signed with a music company called PGLang, which works with Columbia Records. Through them, he released his first album, The Melodic Blue, in 2021. Critics liked the album, and it reached number five on the Billboard 200 chart. It also sold enough copies to be certified platinum. One of its songs, "Family Ties", won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance. Baby Keem also received two Grammy nominations for Album of the Year for his work on Kanye West's Donda (2021) and Kendrick Lamar's Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022).

Early Life and Music Beginnings

Hykeem was born in Carson, California. When he was young, he spent time in music studios. He watched his aunts and uncles "burn" CDs. They used a popular website called LimeWire to get free music. This was common in the early 2000s.

A few years later, in 2008, he heard Kanye West's album "808s & Heartbreak" on the radio. He was living in Las Vegas at the time. This made him even more interested in music. The next year, he started looking up more music. Keem looked up to artists like Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne, Eminem, and 50 Cent.

Becoming a Minecraft YouTuber

Before his music career, Keem was a popular YouTuber. He played a game called Minecraft Survival Games. His Minecraft name was "hykeemc". His YouTube channel was called "AllMightyModz". Keem was known for being a very good player on servers like The Hive. He got over 1,000 subscribers on his channel because of his skills. He often had Skype calls where fans could play games with him. Today, his YouTube channel is not active. However, its links now go to Keem's current SoundCloud music account.

In 2014, Hykeem decided to start his own music career.

Music Career Highlights

Starting His Music Journey (2014–2018)

Carter made his first song, "Come Thru," when he was in high school. He later removed it from the internet. He hopes no one will ever find it. His first music collection, called an extended play (EP), was named Oct. He released it himself on November 7, 2017. But it was soon taken off most music streaming sites. According to RapTV, this EP showed hints of his future music style. It had a mix of energetic beats and slower, emotional songs.

He released his second EP, Midnight, on January 16, 2018. It had similar music production to Oct. But RapTV noted that Carter's singing and rapping sounded "more confident and loud." In an interview, he said Midnight didn't have a clear artistic plan. He described it as "just nine songs in my stash that I liked and put out."

After sending some of his music to a record label, Carter helped produce music for the superhero movie Black Panther in 2018. That summer, he released two more EPs, No Name and Hearts and Darts. He also produced two songs for Jay Rock's album Redemption. He felt Hearts and Darts was his first project that showed his true personality. This was also his first project using the name Baby Keem. In October 2018, he released his first mixtape, The Sound of Bad Habit. A producer named Cardo helped create it.

The Melodic Blue and New Music (2021–Present)

In 2021, Keem was featured on Kanye West's song "Praise God". This song was on Kanye's album, Donda. Baby Keem's first studio album, The Melodic Blue, came out on September 10, 2021. He helped produce most of the songs on the album. Music critics generally liked the album. They praised its bold ideas and Keem's growing talent.

The album reached number five on the Billboard 200 chart. This was Keem's first album to make it into the top 10 in the U.S. Two songs from the album, "Durag Activity" with Travis Scott and "Family Ties" with Kendrick Lamar, were very popular. Keem went on the Melodic Blue Tour from November 2021 to July 2022. He also appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote his album. A special version of the album with extra songs was released later.

At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards in April 2022, "Family Ties" won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance. Keem also produced songs and was featured on Kendrick Lamar's album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers in 2022. He also helped open shows for Lamar's Big Steppers Tour. On May 30, 2023, Keem and Lamar surprised fans by releasing a song called "The Hillbillies". They also performed together at a music festival as a duo with the same name. Keem also acted for the first time in a short film based on The Melodic Blue. He helped produce this film. In 2024, Keem announced his second studio album, Child with Wolves.

Musical Style and Inspirations

Baby Keem has mentioned that Kid Cudi is one of his favorite artists.

In a 2021 interview, Keem said he was inspired by producers like Mike WiLL Made-It and Metro Boomin. He also gets ideas from Kanye West.

Discography

Studio Albums

• The Melodic Blue (2021)
• Child With Wolves (To Be Announced)

Filmography

Film

Tours

Headlining Tours

• The Melodic Blue Tour (2021–2022)

Supporting Tours

• Kendrick Lamar – The Big Steppers Tour (2022)

Awards and Nominations

Images for kids

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  Baby Keem's signature